Woman charged in traffic death

The Daily Inter Lake

A Kalispell woman was charged Monday with negligent homicide and two counts of vehicular assault after a traffic accident killed a young man Saturday morning.

Steffanie Schauf, 26, reportedly was intoxicated when she plowed her sports car into the back of a truck driving on U.S. 93 south of Whitefish at about 1:30 a.m.

According to Montana Highway Patrol trooper Martin Shrock, Schauf drove into the back of a Dodge pickup driven by Christopher Gray, 27, of Bigfork.

The impact sent the truck rolling down an embankment.

Brett Adams, 24, of Bigfork, was a passenger in the truck. He was ejected and later was pronounced dead at Kalispell Regional Medical Center. He apparently was not wearing a seat belt.

Mike Meehan, Flathead County undersheriff and deputy coroner, said Adams died of a brain injury.

Gray and a woman who sat between the men in the truck also were hurt.

Schauf's Mazda Miata went into the ditch and caught fire, Shrock said.

Two people pulled her from the vehicle and probably saved her life, he said.

Her blood-alcohol level was .34 - over four times the legal limit of .08, Meehan said. After she apparently refused to give a breath test at the scene, blood was drawn from her under the authority of an investigative subpoena.

She was treated for minor injuries and was released from Kalispell Regional.

Gray reportedly is in serious condition at the hospital, suffering from a punctured lung and some broken bones. The other passenger in Gray's truck was wearing a seat belt and was not seriously injured.

Justice of the Peace David Ortley set bond at $80,000 for Schauf. Her father reportedly posted a property bond.

Schauf will be represented in court by Kalispell attorney George Best.